Paducah attorney Glenn Denton said he’s excited about the challenge of serving a six-year term on the Council on Postsecondary Education, which oversees the state’s colleges and universities.

Gov. Steve Beshear made the appointment on Friday, picking Denton to fill one of three vacancies from a list of nine nominees. Former Gov. Paul Patton and former Lexington Mayor Pam Miller also received appointments.

“I am humbled by the opportunity to serve on a board that has a statewide impact and can truly make decisions to improve the entire commonwealth,” Denton said of his reason for seeking the appointment.

He said the first challenge will be selecting a new president to oversee the council’s day-to-day operations.

Other challenges of the board are to continue providing an affordable education and expand degree programs to meet the needs of Kentucky workers and businesses, he said. He plans to study higher education issues over the next few months to be a productive member of the 16-person panel.

Denton, 38, is an attorney with the Denton and Keuler law firm, of which his father, David Denton, is a co-founder. David Denton served on the old Council on Higher Education in the 1990s that the Council on Postsecondary Education replaced as part of changes approved in 1998.

Glenn Denton is a former chairman of the McCracken County Democratic Executive Committee and was active in supporting Beshear in his election in 2007.

He also has been involved in civic work, serving as 2003 chairman of the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce. He has served on various other committees.

Patton said he was pleased to join the council, which received more authority from the 1997 higher education overhaul he championed.

The overhaul strived to improve coordination of universities, community colleges and technical schools. It removed community colleges from the University of Kentucky’s control and set a goal of making UK a top-20 research university. Community colleges were placed in a new system with technical schools.

Patton called the revamped higher education system the “hallmark” of his governorship.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Bill Bartleman can be contacted at 575-8651.

As published in the Paducah Sun, June 6, 2008